Sunday 25th February - Freezing

Another plummet in temperatures, but with it bright sunshine and a biting wind. An early visit last Saturday morning to Selsey delivered fairly standard February fare, 2 Great Northern Divers, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Fulmar, 1 Shag , c60 Common Scoter, and 15+ Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Sandwich Tern and a dozen Kittiwake. A couple of hours early afternoon at home ended up good for raptors with 2 Red Kite, 2 Raven, a few Buzzards but 4 Goshawk, 2 male and 2 female, the 2 females were having a mid-air scrap and at one point I had all 4 birds in the same scope view was a fantastic highlight.

This weekend, the weather had really turned bitterly cold, although not unpleasant, the light was exceptionally bright, with a blazing low winter sun. I have had quite a bit of work done in the fields and round the edge of the gully this Winter to try and stem the overgrowth that quickly builds up. The two back fields have had fence repairs, and I have moved the sheep to the stables field to give their field a break as it looks very tired with no grass and several hundred molehills. Also, some of the overgrown areas have been cut back, mainly to get a bit more light in. I'm not sure there is any real prospect of a major influx of birds as a result but it looks a bit better.

I walked to the Furnace pond yesterday morning. It was expectedly quiet, although Song Thrushes ,Robins and various other resident passerines are starting to get to full voice, belting out their territory songs. The furnace pond for once held several duck. I counted 18 Mandarin ,12 Teal and 6 Mallard and 3 Grey Heron, there was also a Grey Wagtail at the back of the pond by a small stream. A single Woodlark flew up from  the large arable field and a Kestrel was seen on the way back but no other raptors until I saw a Sparrowhawk at home. Raptors in general seem to perform better with a little light cloud and it remained bright and perfectly clear.

There are still at least 4 Brambling at home with about the same number of Redpoll, Siskin and a few more Goldfinch, Greenfinch Chaffinch and the occasional Bullfinch. No sign of any Hawfinch now for around 3 weeks . The surprise this morning was a small flock of 48 Lapwing, I first saw heading West over the trees then about 10 minutes later they flew directly over the house.

A bit of clearing behind the chicken pen

A bit of light gets through but there is still a lot of canopy

Nearly all Hazels have been coppiced down in the area called the Pig Pen, although there's never been a Pig in the vicinity.

Looking North towards the house from the back field, with some new fencing.

 A bright freezing morning down the lane

Robin was following my footstep, hoping I'd churn up a few bugs.

A bare frozen arable field, it did hold a Woodlark.

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Lapwings over the house